


I Wanna Fall in Love With the Stars in Your Eyes

by AceEmerson, pandon



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - SNL, Closeted Character, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceEmerson/pseuds/AceEmerson, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandon/pseuds/pandon
Summary: Richie and Eddie go out to a fancy dinner on Richie's last night in LA--Companion fic to the Reddie SNL AU twitter smauSet the night of posts 266-269
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 12
Kudos: 164
Collections: Reddie SNL AU Companion Fics





	I Wanna Fall in Love With the Stars in Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to the Reddie SNL twitter smau!
> 
> You don't need to read the AU to read this piece, but it will provide some context.
> 
> You can find the smau at [@snlreddie](https://twitter.com/snlreddie)  
> You can find the authors at [@LizzardEmily](https://twitter.com/LizzardEmily) and [@criesinkaspbrak](https://twitter.com/criesinkaspbrak) !
> 
> Title comes from Tonight You're Perfect by New Politics

Richie still remembers the day he saw Beverly’s tweet about the preview of her Summer fashion line. The tweet that only showed up for him because he follows Eddie and the man in question had been tagged in it. Knowing the guy you’re head over heels in love with is friends with a famous fashion designer is one thing, but finding out that he models for her occasionally? Through a tweeted photo of him looking absolutely delectable? Something else entirely.

The image in question showed Eddie Shortstop Kaspbrak rocking a stunningly intricate floral embroidered mesh shirt, complete with yellow pansies, green vines, and leaves. It hugged Eddie’s lithe body like a dream, accentuating all the right places. It had been more than enough to make his mouth go dry. To make him ache with longing for the guy who he hadn’t even been able to call his at the time.

So it’s no surprise that he can’t fucking breathe the moment Eddie steps out of his bedroom wearing that exact same shirt. His mouth hangs slack, his eyes go wide, his heart stops in his chest. He can’t remember his name, who he is, or why his perfect amazing incredible PERFECT boyfriend is standing in front of him dressed to kill. 

No one ever looked as good as Eddie does in this moment. Black fitted slacks with that see-through top, showing just enough of him to make Richie’s thoughts run away from him. He gets a little rush of pride at the idea that everyone in the world might be able to get a tease of what Eddie looks like in that shirt, but none of them will ever know the guy as intimately as Richie himself does.

“Fuck me,” he breathes out, a little dazed and lost in the moment.

If Richie had even once ounce of power left in his brain, he might care to be embarrassed. But his mind is clouded with the sight of his boyfriend and he doesn’t have the wits to do anything but stare.

Eddie’s lips quirk up in a small smirk at the comment.

“We can’t make a mess of my nice shirt, babe,” he teases easily, “Bev would never forgive me.”

“Huh?” Richie asks dumbly, eyes glassy as they rake over Eddie’s body. 

“Hey, earth to Richie,” Eddie replies with a soft laugh, hand waving in front of Richie’s face for a moment before his fingers shift to graze gently along Richie’s jawline. 

The touch catches Richie’s attention, and his eyes snap to focus, finding Eddie’s face. He meets the warm gaze of Eddie’s eyes, the softness he finds there making his heart skip a beat.  _ This is what love feels like, _ he thinks. All of those other times he thought he might be close to loving someone, or thinking he was truly in love, he really had no fucking clue.

None of those guys compared to Eddie Kaspbrak. No one ever could. None of them wore a smile that could make his insides melt. None of them had Bambi eyes that could bring the whole world to its knees. None of them had the energy to match a feral roadrunner Eddie, or the warmth to match a musing, concerned Eddie. None of them had ever spent time lovingly caring for him after an injury. None of them had ever looked at him like the sunshine followed him into every room.

For every grumpy remark that Eddie makes, every ounce of sarcasm, every snarky quip, there is infinite wonder and kindness in its wake. Infinite adoration written across his features as clearly as the stars in the sky.

On a normal day, Richie’s insecurities and inner demons would already be undermining all of the things he can see clearly on Eddie’s face right now. The love and the adoration that he feels unworthy of. But there’s something different in the air right now. Something different inside of Richie. Maybe it’s the aftermath of the past few days together. Or the emotional mirror sex they had after their love confessions. From being forced to hear and believe that Eddie thinks he’s the hottest guy on the planet. Maybe the quiet whispers against his skin, a litany of compliments burned into his soul via Eddie’s lips brushing against his neck. Maybe that does something to a man. Or maybe it’s because of the night they spent under the blanket fort. The night where Eddie proved to Richie that he wanted him for more than his body, something Richie doubts the guy even knew he was proving.

Richie turns his face to catch Eddie’s fingers with his lips, pressing a lingering kiss to them as his eyes slide shut. He can hear the way Eddie’s breathing changes, that tell-tale hitch telling Richie that his date is feeling a mirror of everything inside of his own heart right now. He smiles against the pads of Eddie’s fingers pressed to his lips, before opening his eyes and turning to face the man fully again.

“I can’t believe I get to take a model to dinner. I must be the luckiest guy in this galaxy.”

Eddie’s cheeks tinge pink and he lowers his lashes, eyes meeting the floor. It’s adorable and sort of heart breaking at the same time.

“You don’t have to butter me up, Rich,” Eddie replies, voice not much more than a mumble, “you already won me over a while back. Now you’re stuck with me.”

Richie smiles and reaches for Eddie’s hand, the one that is still lingering on his face. He links their fingers together easily and plants a row of kisses across Eddie’s knuckles, making sure each one receives an individual peck.

“I don’t know how I’ll manage, but I’ll be brave. Braver than a U.S. Marine,” Richie explains, voice serious even though he knows his eyes must twinkle, “taking on a pissed off Eddie Kaspbrak has to be equivalent to war, right?” 

Eddie barks out a laugh as their eyes meet, shaking his head in disbelief. Richie doesn’t think he could ever get enough of Eddie’s laugh. He could stand in front of a full Madison Square Garden audience and all of their laughter combined would never be worth as much to him as even a mere chuckle from his Eddie Spaghetti.

“I cannot believe you just compared being with me to a warzone,” Eddie scoffs, shaking his head even as he rolls his eyes, “you’re lucky I love you.”

Eddie leans in for the briefest of kisses, barely a brush of lips before he’s nodding towards the door and ushering Richie towards it.

“Come on, smartass, we have a reservation and we can’t be late. I have a handsome boyfriend to treat to dinner.”

\--

The meal goes by with ease, as most things do with Eddie around. Every moment with him is comfortable and new. Peaceful and exciting. A million things at once. It’s just dinner at a fancy restaurant; but it’s not. It’s sharing a corner table at the most coveted restaurant in LA, their feet bumping playfully together beneath the table. It’s chatting about everything and nothing, words coming as easily as breathing. It’s dim lighting in an area that’s secluded enough to feel safe, away from the prying eyes of the public. It’s watching his spaghetti man roll his eyes lovingly as Richie teases him about cannibalism because what kind of pasta man orders pasta for dinner?! 

It’s smiles and laughter. It’s love and adoration. It’s Richie and Eddie.

But it’s also stealing bits of food from each other’s plates, despite the sanitation issues. Richie has to remind Eddie more than once that it’s no different than when their tongues are shoved down each other’s throats. Eddie grimaces the first time, but then he seems to mull it over and find the answer satisfactory enough for him to steal another piece of eggplant from Richie’s dish.

The effort on Eddie’s part doesn’t go unnoticed. Richie has been learning just how serious the man’s OCD really is. He knows now how every day is a journey of bravery and strength that Eddie would never admit to. Richie has seen Eddie struggle to stop counting the books on his shelf, the dvds by his tv, and the boxes of tea in his cabinet, despite already knowing exactly how many of each there are. He’s spotted him scrubbing dishes, or worse - his hands, so hard that the veins in his forearms stand out and his skin is red and irritated. Cleaning cleaning cleaning until Richie presses against him from behind and wraps his arms around him, hands rubbing over his forearms and down to his hands until he stills them. He’s watched Eddie turn over various scenarios in his head when trying to do a mundane task, stuck in a loop of worry, of impossibilities and improbabilities, of the anxiety that consumes him. He’s reached out and linked their fingers together and offered him an encouraging smile that says I’m right here, we’re here, you’re okay. He’s walked out of the bathroom to find Eddie sneaking to clean out the fridge that he just cleaned the day before, that harried look in his eyes. But he tries. Eddie tries so hard to overcome the thoughts in his head, and his efforts are never taken for granted. 

As Richie munches his bite of the chocolate lava cake they ordered, the one that has gone untouched by Eddie since the second or third bite, he realizes that he hasn’t stopped talking for the past ten minutes. Eddie hasn’t interjected once, hasn’t called him a dumbass or rolled his eyes and snorted at him for something silly he said. Once Richie takes a moment to really give his full attention to the man across from him, he notices that Eddie is staring at him with those dreamy eyes that he thought only existed in cartoons. He’s got his chin propped on his hand and his eyes are shooting hearts out of them. Hearts directed at Richie. There’s a softness there, always there, that no one has ever shown Richie before. He’s been told by partners that they loved him, but none of them ever looked at him with anything like that in their eyes. He’ll never get over how it feels like being punched right in the gut when Eddie looks at him like this. Like he’s something special. The reverence in that gaze is nearly crippling sometimes. 

Before he can make a joke out of it, something to diffuse the intensity of the situation that has Richie practically consumed with love, Eddie’s eyes train on Richie’s free hand resting to the left of their shared plate. Then Eddie does something daring, something that makes butterflies burst into flight inside of Richie’s stomach. He gently rests his hand over Richie’s, smiling to himself like he’s proud. He should be. Richie is. 

Richie’s eyes dart down to their hands there on the table. The table where their server could come back and see. The table where a passerby could, while unlikely, potentially see. He stares at their hands for a beat, savoring the tingling sensation and the warmth that floods his chest. The weight of Eddie’s hand on his is so grounding, so intimate, so profound. He’s in love. Eddie amazes him in new ways every day they’re together. Every day Richie has the absolute god-sent pleasure of having this amazing man in his life. 

When Richie lifts his gaze he’s met with two doe eyes that make his mouth go dry. Eddie’s eyes are intense on a normal day, but tonight. Oh, tonight. There’s something different in them. Something deeper, something bolder. Something that Richie is certain could tear him apart if it wasn’t filled with so much adoration. 

“I love you,” Eddie muses softly, almost conversationally. 

Richie can’t breathe. Eddie says it like it’s a fact. Like it’s the easiest thing in the world to say. He feels the toe of Eddie’s shoe bumping at his foot as Eddie’s fingertips trace soft patterns against the back of Richie’s hand. Mapping out their love.

“I love you, too,” Richie replies, heart in his throat.

Something changes in Eddie’s eyes whenever Richie says those words. His eyes soften, brighten, shine. Richie wonders if his own eyes do that whenever Eddie expresses his love in any way.

There’s a million things Richie wants to say. He wants to thank Eddie for this moment, this dinner, this trip, this love. He wants to voice his disbelief that he could ever have gotten so lucky. He wants to crack a joke just to make Eddie roll his eyes. He wants to say something dirty that will make both of them blush.

But instead, he says none of those things. Eddie’s eyes say he already hears all the words on Richie’s tongue. So instead Richie offers a small smile, one that Eddie returns, and doesn’t say anything, so uncharacteristic for the trashmouthed idiot he is. It’s a soft gentle moment, filled with love and adoration. One that Richie knows he will remember for the rest of his life.


End file.
